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Obama’s energy goals wide-ranging

Posted: November 10, 2008 at 09:51 AM CST

The long and winding road to the White House was finalized last week with the election of Sen. Barack Obama. President-Elect Obama defeated Sen. John McCain in a historic election that few could have predicted just one year ago.

However, as the dust settles, many are wondering, “What now?” That’s likely a question many are asking themselves in the ethanol industry. The last 10 years have brought a lot of change to the domestic ethanol industry, and the next 10 present some interesting challenges and opportunities.

President George W. Bush and the Congress’ that served during his time in office have done a lot to support ethanol producers. What can we expect when Obama enters the White House?

A look at Obama’s energy plan indicates the new President will continue supporting the industry. His New Energy for America plan is available at http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/factsheet_energy_speech_080308.pdf. According to Obama’s campaign Web site, the plan will
• Provide short-term relief to American families facing pain at the pump
• Help create 5 million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next 10 years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future
• Within 10 years save more oil than the United States currently imports from the Middle East and Venezuela combined
• Put 1 million plug-in hybrid cars—cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon—on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America
• Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025
• Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

The plan details a few more items that could eventually impact the fuel ethanol industry. Obama and Joe Biden plan to increase fuel economy standards, invest in “advanced vehicles” and put 1 million plug-in electric vehicles on the road by 2015. They also intend to mandate that all new vehicles are flexible-fuel vehicles. They intend to make this standard by the end of their first term in office.

Obama/Biden wants to develop the next generation of sustainable biofuels and infrastructure, including cellulosic ethanol and biobutanol. “They will require at least 60 billion gallons of advanced biofuels by 2030,” the plan said. “They will invest federal resources, including tax incentives and government contracts into developing the most promising technologies and building the infrastructure to support them.”

Finally, Obama/Biden intends to establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which would require fuel suppliers in 2010 to begin to reduce the carbon of their fuel by 5 percent within five years and 10 percent within 10 years.

How all of this will be accomplished remains unclear in today’s political and economic climate. Truthfully, only time will tell what place the current and future ethanol industry will have in the U.S. energy system. However, if a new President’s goals include reducing dependence on foreign sources of energy, ethanol is a good place to start.

-Dave Nilles